Cognitive and Affective Characteristics of Children in EFL Classes

Mostafa Morady Moghaddam, Shirin Malekzadeh

Abstract

The role of age in second language learning has been the concern of many researchers and educators to the date since children enjoy different characteristics in comparison to adults. This qualitative study aims at investigating cognitive and affective features of successful and less successful children in EFL classes. Regarding the influential role of interaction between teachers and children, the way teachers reacted to children’s cognitive and affective status has been examined too. 152 children were chosen randomly from various English institutes in Mashhad, Iran. Moreover, in order to figure out the quality of teacher talk, 43 EFL classes were observed and the voices of teachers were audio-recorded for further investigation. The findings of this study revealed that proficient students in EFL classes benefited from various cognitive and affective characteristics. In addition, the teacher discourse was richer with respect to proficient children in a way that the quality of teachers’ interactions with proficient children enjoyed more positive cognitive and affective feedback. It was realized that when proficient learners lacked necessary knowledge to come up with cognitive challenges, they got positive affective feedback and positive or neutral cognitive feedback. However, with less-proficient children, teachers mostly used negative affective feedback and neutral or negative cognitive feedback. This study is fruitful for the teachers who want to improve the quality of teaching English to children and for those researchers who are interested in child second language learning. Key words: EFL learners; Children; Cognitive characteristics; Affective features; Teacher discourse; Feedback